Posts Tagged ‘teaching children with autism’

We use social skills everyday of our lives, at home, school, college, work and while out and about.

What is meant by social skills? Social skills are needed when we communicate with other people, have a conversation, interact, make friends, play, deal with conflict and read the body language and facial expressions the emotions of those around us, its knowing how to act and react.

The development social skills in typically developing youngsters happens naturally without a lot of direct instruction, they watch and learn social and communication skills.

In children on the autism spectrum social skills are not naturally learnt, they need to be taught and social skills stories are the perfect tool to teach them with. So what are social skills stories? and how can Teaching children with autism using autism social skills stories benefit the child? Having impairments in social skills is a common symptom of autism spectrum. Having deficits in communication skills both verbal and non-verbal is also a common symptom of autism spectrum.

For children on the autism spectrum lacking social skills can hinder their social development, parents generally struggle to find explanations of social situations that their child will understand.

Research shows us that the majority of children with an ASD are visual thinkers and learners which means that they tend to think in pictures, consequently, using visual supports for autism is always going to be beneficial.

Teaching children with autism using autism social skills stories is therefore a positive PLUS they are very easy to use.

Using visual supports for autism such as autism social skills stories, PECS communication systems, visual support cards and so on can really help the child with an ASD understand behaviours and social skills they would otherwise struggle to mater and or understand.

For example a simple skill such as washing your hands can for many children with an autistic spectrum disorder (ASD), be complicated or difficult to understand, and even if the child can wash their hands washing their hands may need to be re-taught in a different setting like say at school.

Many children with an autistic spectrum disorder struggle to master social skills in different contexts. Many children with an ASD learn skills but then have difficulty replicating them in another environment.

Consequently, visual supports for autism need to be flexible, editable and portable. Autism social skills stories tick all of these boxes, they can be personalized, edited, printed are convenient and portable making them the ideal autism tool for the job.

Parents use autism social skills stories as an autism tool to teach social and communication skills as well as address sensory processing issues and to teach appropriate behaviours. They can be used at home, school, college and while out and about.

A social skills story acts like a role model or visual framework showing the autistic child exactly what to expect as well as what is expected of them. The social skills story answers the “wh” questions – who, where, why, when and what as well as How and provides an insight into non-verbal communication. Thus a skill such as washing your hands can be taught anywhere any time by simply applying the social skills story to each individual situation.

Teaching children with autism using autism social skills stories is beneficial. Social stories follow specific sentence patterns, are written in first person language, use visual images and are always from the point of view of the autistic child. They describe the skill or situation in relevant social cues in a manner the autistic child will understand.

To learn more about how social skills stories are written, implemented and used as well as get access to downloads of autism social skills stories visit any of the following sites:

What are supports for teaching social skills activities to children with autism ?

There are several methods through which we learn:

Through seeing (visually)

Hearing (auditory),

Touching or manipulating an object (kinesthetically or ‘hands-on’ learning).

An example of these would be, looking at a picture book or reading a textbook, this would be visual learning. Listening to a c.d., or going to a lecture this would be learning through hearing…and pressing buttons to determine how to operate a DVD involves learning kinesthetically, through touch and feel.

Mostly we learn through two or more of these learning skills. How we learn will determine how ell we do at school.

Most mainstream school adopt all of these learning methods, we visually learn through reading books and texts, we learn through listening to out teachers and we practice tasks to learn.

With children on the autism spectrum they will nearly always be visual learners. Some children on the autism spectrum will also be kinesthetic learners and may well benefit form their teacher or helper actually guiding their hand while they undertake tasks.

Therefore, it is important that a teacher assess each ASD child in the class to determine which kind of learning skill they prefer. The teacher can then adapt the teaching style to suit the ASD child’s need’s and build on their strengths.

However one very important thing to remember when assessing an ASD child is their need for repetition and sameness. Keeping this in mind when setting lessons will be of benefit.

A visual timetable should always be in place for the ASD student to refer too.

The supports for teaching social skills activities to children with autism are readily available nowadays and can be easy to use, supports such as autism social stories are used with tremendous effect.

The autism social skills story will help keep the ASD child on task, and work as an excellent tool in helping teachers explain the why, what, where, when and how to the ASD student.

Using autism social skills stories as supports for teaching social skills activities to children with autism will benefit the ASD student, they can be read, auditory, they have appropriate pictures and images plus some text, visual and they can be handles kinesthetic, or used as a visual aid with attachable pictures etc…

However you decide to use it an autism social skills story will prove to be a valuable asset to the supports for teaching social skills activities to children with autism that are already in place.

To obtain school related autism social skills stories that can be downloaded quickly and effortlessly and are all in printable format please visit:

A child with autistic spectrum will not set out intentionally to cause stress or upset anybodies feelings. A child with autistic spectrum will not misbehave or harm simply out of fun or mischief.

Autism Spectrum Disorder is a developmental disorder that affects the individual’s brain. Autism Spectrum Disorder affects the way the individual processes information, communicates, uses language, thinks, acts, reacts and uses their imagination. These common characteristics of autism are called social skills deficits.

The common characteristics of autism will often make a child with autism appear rude, aloof even arrogant at times. However this is not intentional, an individual with autism spectrum disorder will be brutally honest and say as they see it, be uninterested in appearing cool and oblivious to public opinion.

These are not bad characteristics, just difficult to understand. However for parents with children on the spectrum these common characteristics of autism can make life extremely difficult and at times stressful.

Approaches for teaching children with autism social and communication skills and behaviours are useful, research does suggest parents report significant improvements in social behaviours.

Having the ability to socially interact and communicate both verbally and nonverbally is a naturally learnt ability in typically developing beings. These skills however are missing in children on the spectrum and need to be taught directly.

Using approaches for teaching children with autism such as autism social stories does show vast improvements in social and communication skills. Autism social stories are short descriptive stories like a social script or framework for the skills or behaviour needing to be taught.

Using visual images which most autistic people find easier to understand and first person text the social story breaks the skill down into relevant social cues and shows the individual with autism spectrum disorder what to expect and what others will expect from them.

Answering the “wh” questions – who, where, why, when and what as well as offering an insight into the verbal and non verbal communications of others, social skills stories can help support as well as teach social and communications skills, thus reducing stress and inappropriate behaviours.

Children with autism spectrum disorder will often struggle to make and maintain friendships.

Their unusual behaviors and communication difficulties can often be misread, which can on occasions leave the autistic child open to bullying and taunts.

An autistic child will generally not understand non-verbal communications and will lack the ability to mind read or read facial and body language.

The autistic child may be literal and not respond in the expected way to criticism, sarcasm, jokes, wit and humor which again can lead to social mistakes and the inability to make and maintain friendships.

Therefore teaching children with autism how to make friends can be difficult. Research suggests that teaching children with autism can be made easier with the introduction of social skills stories.

A well written social skills story can be used for teaching children with autism how to make friends. The autism social skills story will explain how the autistic child should act and what will be expected of them and what they can expect from others.

The social skills story can teach and re-enforce vital social skills needed for “everyday” as well as all other social situations, events, skills and occasions.

The social skills story is not only used for teaching children with autism how to make friends but also for other skills like teaching personal hygiene, how to behave at school and more.

Autism spectrum disorder is a developmental disorder affecting the brain of the individual it is not a form of mental retardation.

Often children with autism spectrum disorder are referred to as odd or weird and will often display unusual behavior patterns; children with autism will generally prefer to be alone and avoid the social contact and interaction other children of similar ages will crave.

Normally developing children will people watch and collect information from peers, family and the environment which will teach and re-enforce vital social skills and behaviors.

But typically children with autism spectrum disorder will lack this ability and therefore not pick up on or understand the need for social skills, like for instance making and maintaining friends.

Therefore teaching children with autism any social skills must be done directly. This can be achieved through the use of social re-enforcers like autism social skills stories.

Often autistic children can appear rude and abrupt. Generally teaching children with autism using autism social stories can be a real bonus they can help the autistic child understand the social skill, the need for it, the reason they need to learn the skill and the reactions of those around them giving them a clear full picture of what, why, where and when.

Research proves that using autism social skills stories benefits the autistic child in many ways for example they are like a favorite friend helping the autistic child cope socially.

As well as giving clear instruction, coping methods and strategies, answers, suggestions, positive re-enforcements and ultimately the ability to learn the social skill being taught.

So teaching children with autism using autism social skills stories can be a real bonus. They can help alleviate the stress and frustrations often felt by parents and educators who struggle to teach social skills to children with autism.

For 100 autism social skills stories to help teach your autistic child social skills visit

Social skills stories are used for teaching children with autism personal space. A social skills story will explain and teach visually about personal space what it is and why it is important to respect other people’s personal space.

For example the social skills story will look something like this. Sometimes I stand too close to other people. When I do this it can make other people feel uncomfortable.

Key focus is given to the main points. The autistic child will be able to use the social skills story to learn this basic skill effectively.

Normally developing children learn social skills through experience, the environment and their family and peers. An autistic child will need to be taught social skills directly.

Autistic children do not process information in the same way as normally developing children they lack the ability to read facial expression and body language, which can lead to social isolation and mistakes, such as not understanding the need to respect personal space.

This is why teaching children with autism personal space is vital.

By using social skills stories autistic children can find coping methods and resources to help them understand social situations they struggle with.

To implement appropriate social skills stories for teaching children with autism personal space and other issues visit any of the sites below: